Anyone Know Of Any Decent Coffee Liqueurs Less Expensive Than Kahlua?

[+ Gar1eth]

I'm on a budget-or at least I should be. I love me some Kahlua on a bowl of Blue Bell Natural Vanilla Bean, Blue Bell Cookies 'n Cream, or even Breyer's Vanilla/Strawberry/Chocolate flavor. But Kahlua can be quite pricey. At the local Total Wine and More, a 750 ml bottle costs 18.99 and a liter bottle costs 30.99 (and why is the 750 ml bottle cheaper at $.025 a milliliter and the liter bottle more expensive at $.03 a liter-is it due to the larger glass bottle?)

 

 

Gman

[Boy4]

I'm on a budget-or at least I should be. I love me some Kahlua on a bowl of Blue Bell Natural Vanilla Bean, Blue Bell Cookies 'n Cream, or even Breyer's Vanilla/Strawberry/Chocolate flavor. But Kahlua can be quite pricey. At the local Total Wine and More, a 750 ml bottle costs 18.99 and a liter bottle costs 30.99 (and why is the 750 ml bottle cheaper at $.025 a milliliter and the liter bottle more expensive at $.03 a liter-is it due to the larger glass bottle?)

 

 

Gman

Tia Maria?

[MikeBiDude]

I'm on a budget-or at least I should be. I love me some Kahlua on a bowl of Blue Bell Natural Vanilla Bean, Blue Bell Cookies 'n Cream, or even Breyer's Vanilla/Strawberry/Chocolate flavor. But Kahlua can be quite pricey. At the local Total Wine and More, a 750 ml bottle costs 18.99 and a liter bottle costs 30.99 (and why is the 750 ml bottle cheaper at $.025 a milliliter and the liter bottle more expensive at $.03 a liter-is it due to the larger glass bottle?)

 

 

Gman

Homemade Kahlua I can’t vouch for this particular recipe...but should get you exploring. Very tasty and I’m told you can use very *expensive vodka and always get a good result.

 

EDIT: *Inexpensive vodka!

Edited July 20, 2020 by MikeBiDude

[+ Gar1eth]

Homemade Kahlua I can’t vouch for this particular recipe...but should get you exploring. Very tasty and I’m told you can use very expensive vodka and always get a good result.

 

That looks interesting. I think Kahlua has a rum base.

 

Tia Maria?

 

Tia Maria is even more expensive. It's $24.99 for 750 ml.

 

 

 

Gman

[+ poolboy48220]

I prefer Tia Maria to Kahlua (confirmed at a blind taste test a summer or two ago), less sugary and more of a true coffee taste. But it's not a cheaper alternative. I used to make homemade Kahlua, a recipe using instant coffee and vodka; I was surprised to find that both Kahlua & Tia Maria were rum-based. I think Tia Maria may've been the first liquor I ever tasted, a thimbleful at a family gathering in my pre-teens. Not knowing what coffee tasted like, nor knowing any Spanish yet, I thought "Tia" meant it was tea-flavored.

[+ poolboy48220]

(and why is the 750 ml bottle cheaper at $.025 a milliliter and the liter bottle more expensive at $.03 a liter-is it due to the larger glass bottle?)

I was buying Baileys once and the clerk pointed out that the 10-pack of little airplane-size bottles was actually a better deal than the big bottle. I checked her math, she was right.

[+ FrankR]

Homemade Kahlua I can’t vouch for this particular recipe...but should get you exploring. Very tasty and I’m told you can use very *expensive vodka and always get a good result.

 

EDIT: *Inexpensive vodka!

Ha! And just like that I have a project for next weekend! ???

[+ FrankR]

I'm on a budget-or at least I should be. I love me some Kahlua on a bowl of Blue Bell Natural Vanilla Bean, Blue Bell Cookies 'n Cream, or even Breyer's Vanilla/Strawberry/Chocolate flavor. But Kahlua can be quite pricey. At the local Total Wine and More, a 750 ml bottle costs 18.99 and a liter bottle costs 30.99 (and why is the 750 ml bottle cheaper at $.025 a milliliter and the liter bottle more expensive at $.03 a liter-is it due to the larger glass bottle?)

 

 

Gman

Have you tried Amarula? It goes very well with ice cream and I don’t recall it being that expensive when last I picked up a bottle.

https://www.eater.com/drinks/2015/7/31/9009939/beyond-baileys-10-cream-liqueurs-to-try

[MikeBiDude]

That looks interesting. I think Kahlua has a rum base.

You are correct on the rum base. But, if you start researching recipes for homemade… You’ll find the vast majority use vodka as the liquor base.

[+ nycman]

Have you tried Amarula?

Amarula is indeed delightful.

 

But to truly enjoy it one must have it in their morning coffee, while on safari in a private

South African game reserve, watching the sunrise over a herd of amarula nut eating elephants.

 

Otherwise, it tastes like shit.

[+ FrankR]

Amarula is indeed delightful.

 

But to truly enjoy it one must have it in their morning coffee, while on safari in a private

South African game reserve, watching the sunrise over a herd of amarula nut eating elephants.

 

Otherwise, it tastes like shit.

Wow! Their marketing is excellent - you have completely bought into it!!! ?

 

Amarula fruit (it's a fruit, not a nut btw), especially the overripe kind has a very interesting effect on animals. Enjoy the clip I attached below!!! ??

 

 

[rvwnsd]

I've seen small bottles (a pint, maybe) of Kahlua at my local Safeway. Check your local Tom Thumb, Albertsons, or Market Street and see if they carry it.

[+ Gar1eth]

I've seen small bottles (a pint, maybe) of Kahlua at my local Safeway. Check your local Tom Thumb, Albertsons, or Market Street and see if they carry it.

 

I guess I need to make you aware that In the Great State Of Texas you can buy beer and wine at grocery stores, convenience stores, and drug stores. But for hard liquor you have to go to an actual liquor store although liquor stores can sell beer and wine too. Another antiquated rule is that liquor stores are closed on Sunday. You can get beer and wine at the grocery store on Sunday.

 

Where I grew until 2009 was the largest dry city in the US OF A (population of almost 231,000)- package sales of liquor/beer/wine (i.e bottled liquor/beer/wine) were legal outside the city in the county-with a slight twist which I'll explain. Liquor in restaurants was legal (or at least legal since I was young-initially you had to buy a 'membership' when I was a preteen).

 

In the county, the situation was reversed. There were liquor stores. But you couldn't buy alcohol at a restaurant.

 

There was an area called "The Strip" just outside the Southeastern city limits. That's where most of the liquor stores were Most of the buildings had two sections separated by a breezeway. On one side beer and wine were sold. On the other side was hard liquor. Since you couldn't sell hard liquor on Sundays, they would close that part and keep the other side open for beer and wine sales. And since beer and wine weren't available by the bottle/can/box in the city, this was the only place in reasonable distance to buy them.

 

After I had moved away, the city annexed The Strip. so technically beer/wine/hard liquor could be sold in the city but only in that area. This all came to an end with a vote in 2009. Allowing liquor stores in the city passed 2 to 1. I no longer have any relatives there. But I still know lots of people from school who live there. So I followed the vote from afar. Even though it passed 2 to 1, it was contentious.The teetotalers filed a lawsuit to stop implementation of the vote. They failed, and liquor became available to all (well all those of a legal age and as long as it wasn't on a Sunday for hard liquor.). The Strip is now a wasteland as they couldn't compete with in town stores selling liquor.

 

I have to admit that due to where I grew up I occasionally look askance at pharmacies selling (when I'm in Texas) beer and wine. And when I'm outside Texas them selling hard liquor. Of course I look askance at them selling homeopathic dreck and tobacco products too. For a place that sells medicines to hopefully improve your health, having tobacco and homeopathic supplies seems like they have a split personality with one side good and the other evil.

 

Walmart and I'm sure other companies have tried to broaden where hard liquor can be sold. But so far none of the bills have passed the legislature. Many of their constituents would be against that.

 

Gman

Edited July 21, 2020 by Gar1eth

[Daverwr]

I guess I need to make you aware that In the Great State Of Texas you can buy beer and wine at grocery stores, convenience stores, and drug stores. But for hard liquor you have to go to an actual liquor store although liquor stores can sell beer and wine too. Another antiquated rule is that liquor stores are closed on Sunday. You can get beer and wine at the grocery store on Sunday.

 

Where I grew until 2009 was the largest dry city in the US OF A (population of almost 231,000)- package sales of liquor/beer/wine (i.e bottled liquor/beer/wine) were legal outside the city in the county-with a slight twist which I'll explain. Liquor in restaurants was legal (or at least legal since I was young-initially you had to buy a 'membership' when I was a preteen).

 

In the county, the situation was reversed. There were liquor stores. But you couldn't buy alcohol at a restaurant.

 

There was an area called "The Strip" just outside the Southeastern city limits. That's where most of the liquor stores were Most of the buildings had two sections separated by a breezeway. On one side beer and wine were sold. On the other side was hard liquor. Since you couldn't sell hard liquor on Sundays, they would close that part and keep the other side open for beer and wine sales. And since beer and wine weren't available by the bottle/can/box in the city, this was the only place in reasonable distance to buy them.

 

After I had moved away, the city annexed The Strip. so technically beer/wine/hard liquor could be sold in the city but only in that area. This all came to an end with a vote in 2009. Allowing liquor stores in the city passed 2 to 1. I no longer have any relatives there. But I still know lots of people from school who live there. So I followed the vote from afar. Even though it passed 2 to 1, it was contentious.The teetotalers filed a lawsuit to stop implementation of the vote. They failed, and liquor became available to all (well all those of a legal age and as long as it wasn't on a Sunday for hard liquor.). The Strip is now a wasteland as they couldn't compete with in town stores selling liquor.

 

I have to admit that due to where I grew up I occasionally look askance at pharmacies selling (when I'm in Texas) beer and wine. And when I'm outside Texas them selling hard liquor too_Of course I look askance at them selling homeopathic dreck and tobacco products too. For a place that sells medicines to hopefully improve your health, having tobacco and homeopathic supplies seems like they have a split personality with one side good and the other evil.

 

Walmart and I'm sure other companies have tried to broaden where hard liquor can be sold. But so far none of the bills have passed the legislature. Many of their constituents would be against that.

 

Gman

I lived in North Carolina for a bit in the 1980’s. We had to buy our alcohol at the ABC store - Alcohol Beverage Control store - a state-run regulated store. Not sure if it’s still that way. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

[maninsoma]

Just a thought: Have you ever tried simply adding a shot of espresso? It would have the alcohol and added sugar, but if it's the added coffee flavor that's most important then you might even like this more than putting Kahlua on top of your ice cream. If you do like the extra sugar and the thicker consistency of a liqueur, another non-alcohol alternative would be Torani's coffee syrup. My favorite milk shake I've ever had is the Turkish coffee shake at a local hamburger joint: vanilla ice cream, milk, Torani syrup, and a bit of powdered espresso. Intense coffee flavor. I've never tried it, but I just noticed they also now have a coffee liqueur flavored syrup so that would be a way to get the flavor of a coffee liqueur without the alcohol but at a much lower price.

[+ poolboy48220]

I remember a trip to Toronto in my teens, we went to the grocery store and couldn't find the beer, and they laughed when we asked about it. Beer in Canada is sold through government-run stores then called Brewers Retail (now just called "The Beer Store") and liquor/wine is through LCBO stores (Liquor Control Board of Ontario, I think). At least it was the last time I was there - it's been a couple of years and given the border closing was just extended to August 9, it may be a while yet.

[cany10011]

I remember a trip to Toronto in my teens, we went to the grocery store and couldn't find the beer, and they laughed when we asked about it. Beer in Canada is sold through government-run stores then called Brewers Retail (now just called "The Beer Store") and liquor/wine is through LCBO stores (Liquor Control Board of Ontario, I think). At least it was the last time I was there - it's been a couple of years and given the border closing was just extended to August 9, it may be a while yet.

 

The LCBO was formed after prohibition for the safe control of liquor. Still the same in 2020.

[+ azdr0710]

There are many stories of various alcohol rules across the country, especially from years ago. I remember as a kid living in Kansas with many counties being entirely dry and the largest city in the state requiring a membership to drink at "private" restaurants (clubs). Some areas these days won't sell already-cold beer. And I remember being in SLC, UT, at a restaurant following the rules that a second drink could not be put down on the table until the first drink was finished and physically picked up by the server.

 

Have also noticed that traditionally conservative states often have liberal liquor laws and vice versa.

[+ Gar1eth]

 

 

Have also noticed that traditionally conservative states often have liberal liquor laws and vice versa.

 

That's because it's easier to tolerate conservative ideals if you're sloshed. ?

 

Gman

[mike carey]

In Australia and Aotearoa alcoholic beverages, whether beer, wine or spirits, are alcoholic beverages and sales rules are the same for all of them. In most of Australia they cannot be sold in grocery shops, and even when, like in the ACT they can, they are usually sold in separate shops. Aldi here is the exception. Often the separate bottle shop, run by the supermarket chain, is inside the same shop but with a separate sales areas and checkouts. In New Zealand, we saw alcohol was for sale in supermarkets.

[rvwnsd]

Ah, liquor laws. Ask at Total Wines if they carry the small bottle.

[Epigonos]

Damn does this thread bring back memories of my teen years -- I turned 10 in 1950. My mother's family, though not LDS, was from central Utah (Springville, Provo, and Spanish Fork). My dad's family though originally from Slovenia settled in Rock Springs, Wyoming. EVERY summer we would drive from L.A. to Utah to visit my mother's siblings and then on to Rock Springs to visit my dad's parents and brother. We would leave on Friday after my dad go off work and drive to the top of the Cajon Pass where he would pull off to the side of the road and get a couple of hours of sleep -- not pleasant. Early Saturday morning we would continue through Las Vegas and then on to central Utah. In those days ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING in Utah was closed on Sunday. Dad would always be very careful to buy gas late Saturday because it wasn't available on Sunday's. Utah wasn't dry but alcohol certainly couldn't be purchased on Sundays along with anything else. All forms of alcohol had to be purchased at state owned stores. Dad was a heavy beer drinker and he always made a point to buy a couple six-packs immediately upon arriving at my aunts to tide him over until Monday. On one occasion we were driving from Spanish Fork, Utah to visit another aunt in Wolf Point, Montana. We stopped, to spend the night, at a motel in the middle of the Crow Indian (Native American) Reservation where to my dad’s horror he was informed that no alcohol was sold on the reservation. Dad and I got in the car and he drove back 50 miles to the first town off the reservation to buy his beer, we then drove back the same 50 miles to our motel. Now Wyoming, on the other hand, was one of the last vestiges of the rip roaring wild-west. Alcohol damn near flowed in the streets. And you could buy alcohol just about anywhere anytime. My mother loved sage hens, a type of native chicken like bird. On our first morning in Rock Springs my aunt would get up early, go out of town to her small ranch, saddle her horse and go out and shoot, with her shotgun, a dozen or more sage hens. Upon returning to town she and my mother would clean and pluck the birds and we would have them for dinner. At that time in Wyoming people refused to use paper one dollar bills – it was silver dollar country. Each year my uncle would give one or two silver dollars to take home. I imagine I still have a couple of them somewhere.

 

VERY GOOD MEMORIES

Edited July 22, 2020 by Epigonos